A young man about to propose marriage to his girlfriend seeks the advice of three older couples, all of whom have been acquainted with one another for over twenty years. There's the sedate Reverend Nathaniel Armitage and his flirtatious wife Alice; brusque entrepreneur Dick Everett who married his wife Nellie for her beauty, which has faded completely; and passionate writer Horatio Camelford, who stopped believing in marriage right around the time his wife Jessica finally realized she loved him.

The three couples regale the young man with a story about how one night in Germany they were magically transported back to their youths... and given knowledge of their futures.